All My Children Commentary

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The Best and Worst of All My Children 2013:
We've come to the end of another year, and once again we're saying goodbye to All My Children. This week we take one last look back at the things t... Read the column now...

Richard Fields was a matinee idol, and a friend of director Eric Kane. On the day of Eric's daughter, Erica's, 14th birthday, Richard Field showed up for what was supposed to have been a big party. Erica's father was nowhere to be seen -- nor were any other partygoers. Richard spent that evening with Erica, laughing and dancing. As the night concluded during a thunderstorm, Richard Fields sexually assaulted young Erica. The rape left Erica pregnant, and she had a baby which she put up for adoption. Years later the girl she put up for adoption came to town, her name was Kendall Hart. Kendall had been raised by the Hart family, but she wanted nothing more than to know her mother -- and her biological father. This brought all of the memories back to Erica, who had blocked out most of that awful time in her life--but Kendall wouldn't let her forget and tried to look for Richard even though Erica forbade her to. One night Kendall slept with Anton Lang, and then told Erica that Dimitri had raped her, which made Erica flash back to her own rape. She confronted Dimitri and stabbed him. During Erica's trial, Kendall found Richard and brought him into the court room. Kendall then lied on the stand by saying Erica had knowingly stabbed Dimitri.

Kendall realized her mistakes when she stupidly left Bianca near Richard and he tried to rape her. Kendall went back on the stand and admitted she committed perjury. In the midst of the trial, Mona went to see him, and considered killing him. During their argument, he clutched his chest, but she thought he was faking it and left. He died soon after.

Nearly a decade later, his son, Ben Shephard, showed up in Pine Valley for about a year. He was the product of an affair Richard had had with young starlet Vanessa Bennett. Ben was haunted by the evil legacy of his father, just as Kendall was. Even the mention of Richard's name brought shudders to many. Well into middle age, Erica remained a prisoner of what Richard had done to her. Finally one night, in the rain, she and Kendall had a breakthrough and Erica put most of her demons to rest. For the first time, she was truly free of Richard Fields.